n. Intensity or degree of the distinguishing and essential element; spirit; virtue; excellence; -- said of liquors, solutions, etc..

n. A strong place; a stronghold.

transitive v. To strengthen.

from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

To strengthen.

n. The property of being strong; force; power.

n. In inanimate things, the property by which they sustain the application of force without breaking or yielding: as, the strength of a bone; the strength of a beam; the strength of a wall; the strength of a rope.

n. Hence Power or vigor of any kind; ability; capacity for work or effective action, whether physical, intellectual, or moral: as, strength of grasp or stroke; strength of mind, memory, or judgment; strength of feeling (that is, not intensity but effectiveness of emotion).

n. One who or that which is regarded as an embodiment of force or strength; that on which confidence or reliance is firmly set; stay; support; security.

n. Force; violence; vehemence; intensity.

n. Degree of the distinguishing or essential element or constituent; the power to produce sensible effects on other bodies; potency: said of liquors and the like: as, the strength of an acid; the strength of wine or spirits; the strength of a potion or a poison.

n. Force as measured or stated in figures; amount or numbers of any collective body, as of an army or a fleet: as, a play adapted to the whole strength of the company; the full strength of a regiment.

n. Available force or backing, as of a candidate: as, his strength is greatest in the cities.

n. Force proceeding from motion and proportioned to it; vehemence; impetuosity: as, the strength of a current of air or water; the strength of a charge of cavalry.

n. A stronghold.

n. In colors, the relative property possessed by a pigment of imparting a color to and modifying the shade of any other pigment to which it is added.

n. In the fine arts, boldness of conception or treatment.

n. In soap-making. See the quotation.

n.Synonyms Force, etc. See power.

n. In milling, the bread-making quality of flour; the adhesive quality of the gluten in the flour. This, when the flour is made into dough, causes the dough to retain the carbonic-acid gas which results from the reaction of the yeast, and gives the dough greater power to rise and make a larger and finer loaf.

n. capability in terms of personnel and materiel that affect the capacity to fight a war

n. the amount of energy transmitted (as by acoustic or electromagnetic radiation)

n. physical energy or intensity

n. the condition of financial success

n. the power to induce the taking of a course of action or the embracing of a point of view by means of argument or entreaty

n. an asset of special worth or utility

n. permanence by virtue of the power to resist stress or force

n. the property of being physically or mentally strong

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

Middle English, from Old English strengthu.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old English strengþu (corresponding to strong + -th). Written strenght in the 1534 Tyndale English translation of the Bible.

Examples

On Tuesday afternoon, set against the sleek backdrop of a London hotel, the vice-chairman of Iraq\'s oil and gas committee, Abdul-Hadi al-Hassani, told the BBC that the time is right to invest in Iraq as the government has \ "gone from strength to strength\".

In the revealings of such light, such exceptional hour, such mood, one does not wonder at the old story fables, (indeed, why fables?) of people falling into love-sickness with trees, seiz'd extatic with the mystic realism of the resistless silent strength in them -- _strength_, which after all is perhaps the last, completest, highest beauty.

And we must use the� strength of this women’s commission and the strength� of the United Nations to end that war, to end the war� against the civil rights of women and the human rights� of women, and our children and people everywhere.

Sir Wm. Jones has added to the term, strength, _his own_; this we consider to be an error, at any rate it is not a mere translation, and we have applied the term used, _viz. _ _strength_ simpliciter, differently.]

I've always liked this word because it's the longest word in the language with just one vowel: I have this goofy image of the e in the middle as a bodybuilder lifting a massive barbell composed of the other letters.